Santa Fé de Toloca

Santa Fé de Toloca (Teleco, Toloco or Señor Santo Tómas de Santa Fé) was a Spanish mission established within sight of the Santa Fe River in what is now Alachua County, Florida, United States between 1606 and 1616 (when it first appears in the historical record). The mission probably was founded by the Franciscan missionary Father Martín Prieto, who had established the nearby San Francisco de Potano mission. Like other Spanish missions in Florida, Santa Fé de Toloca would have been established in or near an existing Timucua village, belonging either to the Potano or the (Northern) Utino tribe. [Johnson:141]

As with other Timucua villages that became part of the Spanish mission system in Florida, the Indians of Santa Fé were greatly affected by epidemics, including bubonic plague in 1613-1617, yellow fever in 1649 and smallpox in 1653. After a rebellion by the Western Timucua in 1656, the Spanish hanged the chief of Santa Fé. A measles epidemic struck the area in 1659. The site was abandoned sometime around the middle of the 17th century. Historical references to a mission at Santa Fé later in the century may be for a mission rebuilt at a new, unknown, site. More epidemics struck the village in 1675 and 1686. Indians from other tribes were resettled in the village during the second half of the century. The village and mission were abandoned after English soldiers from the Province of Carolina and their Indian allies burned the village and the mission church on May 20, 1702. [Johnson:141-2]

The river took its name from the mission, as did the modern town of Santa Fe. At one time, Santa Fe de Toloca was said to be the principal Timucuan Indian mission in a chain that stretched across the interior of la Florida from St. Augustine on the east coast. during the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries, la Florida was a battleground where England, France, and Spain fought for control of the New World. This was part of a greater struggle between Old and New World cultures that began with the arrival of Christopher Columbus in 1492. Archaeological investigations between 1986 and 1989, by the Florida Museum of Natural History at the University of Florida, have revealed traces of a Spanish-style church, a cemetery with Indian burial in Christian fashion, traces of Indian village life, and fragments of seventeenth century Spanish and Indian pottery. The Indians at Santa Fe provisioned the Castillo de San Marcos and the town of St. Augustine with their crops of corn, wheat, and probably peaches, which they carried in baskets strapped to their backs along the Old Spanish Trail. Produce and cattle were also boated down the Santa Fe and Suwannee Rivers to Cuba. Several generations of Timucuans were born and died at this site. Everyday life centered on tending their gardens and studying Roman Catholic doctrine. Their routines were broken by visitations by the Bishop of Cuba, the Indian Rebellion of 1656, epidemics of disease introduced by Europeans, and the influx of other Indian groups. The mission church and village were attacked and burned in 1702 by invading English soldiers and their Indian allies from the Carolinas. The destruction of Santa Fe de Toloca, and the other missions of la Florida, weakened Spain's control and led, ultimately to Florida becoming a United States' possession in 1821. Santa Fe de Toloca was located at an existing Indian village. This may have been the same village visited by Hernando de Soto's army in 1539; a village called Cholupaha. This area was called "Bland" by its first and only postmaster, J.L. Matthews, who named it for his son in 1903.

Notes

References

*Johnson, Kenneth W. (1993) "Mission Santa Fé de Toloca", in Bonnie G. McEwan. "The Spanish Missions of La Florida". University Press of Florida. ISBN 0-8130-1232-5